February 24, 2025 • 19 mins
What if the pace of your piano lessons could unlock the true potential of your students, especially those who are neurodivergent? Join us as we dig further into adapting our teaching approach by unveiling the often-overlooked art of lesson pacing. In this episode of the Creative Piano Pedagogy podcast, we draw parallels between the rhythm of a lesson and walking speeds, advocating for a teaching style that resonates with each student's unique learning rhythm. By tailoring the tempo of your lessons, you can help students with ADHD and other learning differences absorb information, build confidence, and feel less overwhelmed, turning their challenges into triumphs!
This episode shines a light on the profound impact of pacing in educational success, encouraging educators to embrace flexibility and adaptability in their teaching practices to honor the diverse needs of every student.
Find the full transcript, show notes or links mentioned in the episode here!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Elizabeth Davis-Everhart (00:01):
Hey everyone, and welcome back to
the second episode of theCreative Piano Pedagogy podcast.
If you're new here, welcome.
I'm so glad you've joined us.
And if you have a few minutes,go back and listen to episode
one, Embracing Change.
That will give you some contexton what adaptive teaching is so
you can be ready to go in thisnew series that we're doing on
(00:26):
what adaptive teaching is.
I wanted to take a second andjust say thank you for all the
great responses to episode onethat released two weeks ago.
I was so delightfully surprisedat all of the encouraging
messages and notes I received,and just the words of kindness
from everyone that enjoyed theepisode.
I think we reached fourdifferent countries in the world
(00:50):
with that first episode.
So, wherever you're listeningfrom, I'm so grateful that
you've tuned in and I hope youenjoy.
I wanted to also let you knowabout a new feature on my
podcast this week.
It's a "text me feature and youcan find this on the about tab
(01:10):
of the episode where you see thedescription and the show notes,
but you can find it on any ofyour preferred podcast platforms
like Apple or Spotify, and thisis a way for you to send in
questions, thoughts about theepisode, anything really.
So give it a try and I'll lookforward to seeing messages if
you send them that way.
And, of course, you can alsojust reach out to me on
(01:34):
Instagram at Creative PianoPedagogy.
Now that we've defined whatadapting is and how it applies
to piano teaching, let's reallydig into why it matters and how
we do it.
Over the next several episodesin this series, we're going to
get into the nitty-gritty ofspecific aspects of our teaching
(01:55):
that we can, and really should-adapt, as well as how we do it.
Our topic for today is kind ofan odd one and not something
that a lot of people talk about,and that is lesson pacing.
So, first off, what is lessonpacing?
It is basically the flow andspeed of instruction and
(02:16):
learning throughout the lesson.
This also includes thosetransition times, like the time
between activities or piecesthat's usually spent introducing
new activities allowing fordiscovery and questions.
All of that, the pace andtiming of all of these separate
entities of learning, reallyimpacts and affects the overall
(02:38):
pacing of the lesson and evenour students' success during the
lesson, especially for ourneurodivergent students.
The pacing affects things suchas their ability to absorb
information and new concepts andeven feel secure enough to be
able to confidently replicatewhat they've learned at home.
(02:58):
It also impacts theirconfidence in the lesson itself
and their ability to overcomefeelings of overwhelm or
frustration when they'relearning new skills or music.
It impacts their ability tohear, comprehend and apply all
of the instruction and teachingthat we're providing, and so
much more.
(03:20):
From lots of research ondisabilities, we know that
students with disabilities andneurodivergent learners really
benefit from having more time toaccomplish tasks and goals and
even more time to respond toquestions.
This is a really common thingthat's found in students' IEPs
(03:41):
at both public and privateschools, all the way from
primary grades to high school,even college and grad school.
An IEP is an IndividualizedEducation Plan and this is
something that lets teachers andadministrators, or anyone who's
going to be educating a child-lets them know where the child
(04:04):
could use more support duringthe learning process.
A lot of times this results inallowing for more time on tests
and assignments.
Sometimes it allows for aides-people to specifically help that
child throughout their day.
But today we're really thinkingabout this concept of time, so
(04:24):
thinking of extended due datesfor papers and exams, extended
times for like state testing ortesting and assignments.
Those are some of the thingsthat might be in an IEP.
If we think of this concept ofpacing as it pertains to the
speed of walking, let's think ofthem like strolling pace, a
(04:46):
gentle stroll, or bumping it upa little bit to a walking pace;
and then increasing it to a jog,and then a sprinting pace.
Your students may have thecapability to process
information at all of thosespeeds, depending on the aspect
of the lesson and if it's theirarea of strength or not.
(05:10):
To lessen anxiety and helpmanage behaviors before they
even start, we need to reallycarefully plan for more time on
things that may involve an areain which the student is not
naturally gifted.
In disability research and inspecial education, this is often
(05:31):
referred to as a student's"deficit.
A deficit is something that achild is considered not to be
good at, but I like to think ofit in terms of strengths and
then areas for growth.
So when we're thinking ofstudents with disabilities as it
results in piano and as it isrelated to piano, we're going to
(05:52):
think a lot about the fingersand things that may not be
natural for them to do at thepiano that might take more time
or where students might benefitfrom more time.
So let's just think throughsome of those we're talking
about.
Finger control like is neededfor playing leaps and skips on
(06:13):
the piano, even harmonicintervals, chords or new
patterns that they haven'tplayed before, even things like
isolated finger movement forscales and a big one,
coordination playing the handsor coordinating gestures
together.
We can even extend this thoughtinto music theory concepts and,
(06:37):
honestly, even areas of musicwhere the student doesn't really
enjoy what they're doing.
As you well know, students aremuch more apt to succeed at
something if they enjoy it or ifthey think they can do it, even
if it's a little morecomplicated.
Piece of music or musicalconcept.
(06:58):
Piece of music or musicalconcept If you've ever taught
students with ADHD, then youknow they're not just distracted
kids who talk incessantly andjump around.
They're actually very motivatedby learning challenging things
and being challenged.
So if a student is reallyinvested and interested, the sky
(07:19):
is the limit- if they love achallenge, and of course it
doesn't just apply to ADHD.
This can apply to kids who haveautism, other neurodivergent
learners or just the typicalkids in your studios.
Kids are also really honest,aren't they?
And that's one of the things Ilove about teaching
neurodivergent learners, if I'mhonest.
(07:40):
I love how honest they are withme and how blunt they are to
let me know what's working andwhat's not.
I had a student several yearsago who was on the autism
spectrum and he also had ADHDand OCD and a few other things
going on.
But we were learning a newconcept at the piano and I was
(08:00):
still trying to figure out howto read this student- their
facial expressions and theirbody language, to know if they
felt confident and they wereready to move on or if we needed
to do a few more repetitions.
All of a sudden, he stoppedplaying right in the middle of a
piece and he put his hands onhis hips and said- "I think we
(08:22):
can move this along a little,don't you?
Time's a wasting and the sun'sgoing down.
I think he was all of eightyears old at the time, but I was
like, okay, now I don't have towonder.
I know it's time to move on.
He let me know the pacingneeded to increase.
Another thing we can keep inmind when teaching
neurodivergent students is weneed to frame and teach the
(08:45):
tricky things in creative waysso the students don't become
frustrated.
We want to lower the stress andintensity level and really
lessen their anxiety aboutlearning new things or really
tricky things.
There are some other aspects ofpacing the lesson that might
(09:07):
not be quite as obvious, butthat are hugely impactful.
One of those is the speed atwhich you, as a teacher, are
talking and how much you'retalking during the lesson.
That's a big one.
Something else to think about isthe time that you allow for
(09:27):
students to think and respondafter you've asked a question or
given them the next step ofwhat to do.
You have to kind of respect thesilence in the lesson, don't
you?
And silence is not a bad thing.
If kids are not respondingright away, it is not a bad
thing.
Something else we need to payattention to is the transition.
(09:51):
This is going from one piece toanother, switching from one
activity to the next, and if younotice that students seem to
get stuck on one thing, or maybethey become very chatty and
they don't seem ready to move on, think to yourself- "why are
they stalling?
Stalling in a lesson or astudent kind of feeling stuck on
(10:15):
this one piece or activityisn't just a tactic used by kids
to take up time so they don'thave to play or learn.
I think we kind of view it thatway a lot of times, like "oh,
they didn't practice the nextthing, so they're trying to
distract me, or whatever itmight be.
And while that could definitelybe the case from time to time
(10:35):
when kids are stalling, it couldbe a lot of other things, like
perhaps they're avoidingsomething that they feel very
anxious, nervous or overwhelmedabout, maybe they're mentally
fixated on the last thing, orthey're so excited that they
finally got it that they're notready to move on.
A really random fact for youabout ADHD is that kids who are
(11:01):
very hyper can be one extreme orthe other.
They can either have not a lotof focus at all and have very
short attention spans, or theycan vacillate to the other
extreme and become extremelyhyper, focused to where they do
not want to move on.
They want to keep repeating itover and over and over again,
(11:22):
because maybe they feelconfident about it, maybe their
brain is feeling really excitedand, whatever it might be, they
just become hyperfocused.
So that could be what's goingon.
Another reason why a student isstalling is maybe they don't
feel a structure in the lesson,a sense of structure, so they
take up time with chattingbecause they're not really sure
(11:45):
what's coming next or what'sexpected of them, and that's a
whole other topic for an episodewe're going to do soon about
structure in the lesson.
So these are just some of thepossible reasons why students
might stall.
Another thing that we don'toften think about in reference
to this pacing is that students(and really none of us) need or
(12:09):
want to be constantly remindedthat we're not good at something
.
This is so vital to keep inmind as you're planning your
pacing or even just doing anapproximate pacing for your
lessons with all of yourstudents, but especially your
neurodivergent learners.
If you know you have somedifficult concepts or music to
(12:31):
cover, really carefully assesswhere the best place would be to
put that in a lesson.
Maybe there are activities youcan plan so that it will feel
like more of a natural flow; ifyou're teaching the student to
cross over you know, their lefthand or their right hand on the
piano over the other.
(12:51):
You can spend a few weeks doingimprovisation activities using
that skill and then the daythey're going to see that in
their music for the first time,uou could do that activity right
before playing the new piece--something like that to help them
feel less anxious and feel veryprepared for it.
(13:11):
I always err on the side ofpreparing way more than I need
to for each lesson, because Ihonestly just don't know which
version of my students I'm goingto get that day: the deeply
focused kid, the easilydistracted one?
Or maybe the very overwhelmedlearner who has way too much
going on and needs to take aslower, more gentle learning
(13:32):
pace?
Another thing to remember isthat it doesn't really pay off
(and it rarely results in apositive outcome) if we rush or
push our students constantly inthe lesson.
I know that I personally do notreally respond well to being
rushed or pushed when I'm tryingto grasp a new concept,
(13:52):
especially if it's something newor a little frustrating.
Hurrying me does not help, andthe same thing goes for our
students.
There are a few partingquestions I wanted to leave you
with to just ask yourself aboutthe pacing of your students
lessons.
Feel free to write these down,type them out or maybe just
(14:12):
ponder them throughout the weekas you're planning your lessons
and as you're thinking aboutyour students.
The first question is- howwould you rate your average
lesson pacing with your students?
Is it quick, rushed, kind ofhurried and efficient, racing
through to get things done?
Is it more relaxed and thorough, taking time with what your
(14:32):
students need to take time on,or maybe it's a bit scattered, a
mixture of rushed and very slowand not a whole lot of
structure?
The second question- Are yourlessons teacher-led, meaning you
, the teacher, is doing all thetalking and directing and
pushing things along, or doesyour lesson have a more natural
(14:54):
flow where you follow thestudents' lead, or maybe a
combination of both?
And you know what, if youhaven't thought about this,
that's okay, too!Number three- As you think
through your lesson pacing,particularly with any students
who may be struggling on aconcept, are there creative ways
you can adjust the pacing torelieve the stress or anxiety
(15:17):
about that concept and thenallow more time so it feels
relaxed and natural?
Maybe you can even remove anaspect of the lesson and spend
less time on something to reallyspend time on what matters that
week.
Number four- Are there aspectsof the lesson that could benefit
from better pacing, maybespending more or less time based
(15:40):
on how your student isresponding?
Jot down a few thoughts aboutspecific students or aspects of
your lesson where you can justtweak your pacing and create a
more student-centered approach.
Use your student as the guidefor when to keep going and when
to take more time.
(16:01):
If you really want to take adeep- dive into your teaching
and discover ways to improveyour lesson pacing, start to
really closely observe how muchtalking you're doing during the
lesson and when and if you seesigns the student's ready to
move on before you are.
You could even make a list ofyour students and jot down the
(16:22):
areas of the lesson you want toadjust the pacing on, whether
that be more time onimprovisation and adding
musicality to the lesson thisweek and less time on scales, or
whatever your focus is.
One last thought- What is yourideal pacing for a piano lesson?
Your ideal lesson pacing andyour students' needs may be
(16:44):
vastly different and while it'salways good to be prepared for
our lessons (and I shared that Ilove to be prepared), we do
need to ensure that thestructure of the lesson is
factoring in the humanity of ourstudents and their individual
needs.
Now, this podcast episode shouldcome with a little warning.
Thinking about lesson pacing isa bit like buying a green car:
(17:09):
Until you buy a green car,you've really never noticed
other green cars, but after youdrive it off the car lot,
suddenly you see green carseverywhere.
Lesson pacing is one of thosesneaky, silent and often
underrated things that usuallygets ignored and we rarely hear
it discussed in pedagogy circles.
But it is a vital piece of thepuzzle when it comes to teaching
(17:31):
and meeting our neurodivergentstudents where they are.
It's an integral thing to adapton this journey and I hope
you've gained a few littleinsights into the really cool
part of lessons that is lessonpacing.
It's these little things likepacing that can make a big
(17:53):
difference in our student'ssuccess, and that makes the
adapting so very worthwhile.
Hey everyone, and welcome back to
the second episode of theCreative Piano Pedagogy podcast.
If you're new here, welcome.
I'm so glad you've joined us.
And if you have a few minutes,go back and listen to episode
one, Embracing Change.
That will give you some contexton what adaptive teaching is so
you can be ready to go in thisnew series that we're doing on
(00:26):
what adaptive teaching is.
I wanted to take a second andjust say thank you for all the
great responses to episode onethat released two weeks ago.
I was so delightfully surprisedat all of the encouraging
messages and notes I received,and just the words of kindness
from everyone that enjoyed theepisode.
I think we reached fourdifferent countries in the world
(00:50):
with that first episode.
So, wherever you're listeningfrom, I'm so grateful that
you've tuned in and I hope youenjoy.
I wanted to also let you knowabout a new feature on my
podcast this week.
It's a "text me feature and youcan find this on the about tab
(01:10):
of the episode where you see thedescription and the show notes,
but you can find it on any ofyour preferred podcast platforms
like Apple or Spotify, and thisis a way for you to send in
questions, thoughts about theepisode, anything really.
So give it a try and I'll lookforward to seeing messages if
you send them that way.
And, of course, you can alsojust reach out to me on
(01:34):
Instagram at Creative PianoPedagogy.
Now that we've defined whatadapting is and how it applies
to piano teaching, let's reallydig into why it matters and how
we do it.
Over the next several episodesin this series, we're going to
get into the nitty-gritty ofspecific aspects of our teaching
(01:55):
that we can, and really should-adapt, as well as how we do it.
Our topic for today is kind ofan odd one and not something
that a lot of people talk about,and that is lesson pacing.
So, first off, what is lessonpacing?
It is basically the flow andspeed of instruction and
(02:16):
learning throughout the lesson.
This also includes thosetransition times, like the time
between activities or piecesthat's usually spent introducing
new activities allowing fordiscovery and questions.
All of that, the pace andtiming of all of these separate
entities of learning, reallyimpacts and affects the overall
(02:38):
pacing of the lesson and evenour students' success during the
lesson, especially for ourneurodivergent students.
The pacing affects things suchas their ability to absorb
information and new concepts andeven feel secure enough to be
able to confidently replicatewhat they've learned at home.
(02:58):
It also impacts theirconfidence in the lesson itself
and their ability to overcomefeelings of overwhelm or
frustration when they'relearning new skills or music.
It impacts their ability tohear, comprehend and apply all
of the instruction and teachingthat we're providing, and so
much more.
(03:20):
From lots of research ondisabilities, we know that
students with disabilities andneurodivergent learners really
benefit from having more time toaccomplish tasks and goals and
even more time to respond toquestions.
This is a really common thingthat's found in students' IEPs
(03:41):
at both public and privateschools, all the way from
primary grades to high school,even college and grad school.
An IEP is an IndividualizedEducation Plan and this is
something that lets teachers andadministrators, or anyone who's
going to be educating a child-lets them know where the child
(04:04):
could use more support duringthe learning process.
A lot of times this results inallowing for more time on tests
and assignments.
Sometimes it allows for aides-people to specifically help that
child throughout their day.
But today we're really thinkingabout this concept of time, so
(04:24):
thinking of extended due datesfor papers and exams, extended
times for like state testing ortesting and assignments.
Those are some of the thingsthat might be in an IEP.
If we think of this concept ofpacing as it pertains to the
speed of walking, let's think ofthem like strolling pace, a
(04:46):
gentle stroll, or bumping it upa little bit to a walking pace;
and then increasing it to a jog,and then a sprinting pace.
Your students may have thecapability to process
information at all of thosespeeds, depending on the aspect
of the lesson and if it's theirarea of strength or not.
(05:10):
To lessen anxiety and helpmanage behaviors before they
even start, we need to reallycarefully plan for more time on
things that may involve an areain which the student is not
naturally gifted.
In disability research and inspecial education, this is often
(05:31):
referred to as a student's"deficit.
A deficit is something that achild is considered not to be
good at, but I like to think ofit in terms of strengths and
then areas for growth.
So when we're thinking ofstudents with disabilities as it
results in piano and as it isrelated to piano, we're going to
(05:52):
think a lot about the fingersand things that may not be
natural for them to do at thepiano that might take more time
or where students might benefitfrom more time.
So let's just think throughsome of those we're talking
about.
Finger control like is neededfor playing leaps and skips on
(06:13):
the piano, even harmonicintervals, chords or new
patterns that they haven'tplayed before, even things like
isolated finger movement forscales and a big one,
coordination playing the handsor coordinating gestures
together.
We can even extend this thoughtinto music theory concepts and,
(06:37):
honestly, even areas of musicwhere the student doesn't really
enjoy what they're doing.
As you well know, students aremuch more apt to succeed at
something if they enjoy it or ifthey think they can do it, even
if it's a little morecomplicated.
Piece of music or musicalconcept.
(06:58):
Piece of music or musicalconcept If you've ever taught
students with ADHD, then youknow they're not just distracted
kids who talk incessantly andjump around.
They're actually very motivatedby learning challenging things
and being challenged.
So if a student is reallyinvested and interested, the sky
(07:19):
is the limit- if they love achallenge, and of course it
doesn't just apply to ADHD.
This can apply to kids who haveautism, other neurodivergent
learners or just the typicalkids in your studios.
Kids are also really honest,aren't they?
And that's one of the things Ilove about teaching
neurodivergent learners, if I'mhonest.
(07:40):
I love how honest they are withme and how blunt they are to
let me know what's working andwhat's not.
I had a student several yearsago who was on the autism
spectrum and he also had ADHDand OCD and a few other things
going on.
But we were learning a newconcept at the piano and I was
(08:00):
still trying to figure out howto read this student- their
facial expressions and theirbody language, to know if they
felt confident and they wereready to move on or if we needed
to do a few more repetitions.
All of a sudden, he stoppedplaying right in the middle of a
piece and he put his hands onhis hips and said- "I think we
(08:22):
can move this along a little,don't you?
Time's a wasting and the sun'sgoing down.
I think he was all of eightyears old at the time, but I was
like, okay, now I don't have towonder.
I know it's time to move on.
He let me know the pacingneeded to increase.
Another thing we can keep inmind when teaching
neurodivergent students is weneed to frame and teach the
(08:45):
tricky things in creative waysso the students don't become
frustrated.
We want to lower the stress andintensity level and really
lessen their anxiety aboutlearning new things or really
tricky things.
There are some other aspects ofpacing the lesson that might
(09:07):
not be quite as obvious, butthat are hugely impactful.
One of those is the speed atwhich you, as a teacher, are
talking and how much you'retalking during the lesson.
That's a big one.
Something else to think about isthe time that you allow for
(09:27):
students to think and respondafter you've asked a question or
given them the next step ofwhat to do.
You have to kind of respect thesilence in the lesson, don't
you?
And silence is not a bad thing.
If kids are not respondingright away, it is not a bad
thing.
Something else we need to payattention to is the transition.
(09:51):
This is going from one piece toanother, switching from one
activity to the next, and if younotice that students seem to
get stuck on one thing, or maybethey become very chatty and
they don't seem ready to move on, think to yourself- "why are
they stalling?
Stalling in a lesson or astudent kind of feeling stuck on
(10:15):
this one piece or activityisn't just a tactic used by kids
to take up time so they don'thave to play or learn.
I think we kind of view it thatway a lot of times, like "oh,
they didn't practice the nextthing, so they're trying to
distract me, or whatever itmight be.
And while that could definitelybe the case from time to time
(10:35):
when kids are stalling, it couldbe a lot of other things, like
perhaps they're avoidingsomething that they feel very
anxious, nervous or overwhelmedabout, maybe they're mentally
fixated on the last thing, orthey're so excited that they
finally got it that they're notready to move on.
A really random fact for youabout ADHD is that kids who are
(11:01):
very hyper can be one extreme orthe other.
They can either have not a lotof focus at all and have very
short attention spans, or theycan vacillate to the other
extreme and become extremelyhyper, focused to where they do
not want to move on.
They want to keep repeating itover and over and over again,
(11:22):
because maybe they feelconfident about it, maybe their
brain is feeling really excitedand, whatever it might be, they
just become hyperfocused.
So that could be what's goingon.
Another reason why a student isstalling is maybe they don't
feel a structure in the lesson,a sense of structure, so they
take up time with chattingbecause they're not really sure
(11:45):
what's coming next or what'sexpected of them, and that's a
whole other topic for an episodewe're going to do soon about
structure in the lesson.
So these are just some of thepossible reasons why students
might stall.
Another thing that we don'toften think about in reference
to this pacing is that students(and really none of us) need or
(12:09):
want to be constantly remindedthat we're not good at something
.
This is so vital to keep inmind as you're planning your
pacing or even just doing anapproximate pacing for your
lessons with all of yourstudents, but especially your
neurodivergent learners.
If you know you have somedifficult concepts or music to
(12:31):
cover, really carefully assesswhere the best place would be to
put that in a lesson.
Maybe there are activities youcan plan so that it will feel
like more of a natural flow; ifyou're teaching the student to
cross over you know, their lefthand or their right hand on the
piano over the other.
(12:51):
You can spend a few weeks doingimprovisation activities using
that skill and then the daythey're going to see that in
their music for the first time,uou could do that activity right
before playing the new piece--something like that to help them
feel less anxious and feel veryprepared for it.
(13:11):
I always err on the side ofpreparing way more than I need
to for each lesson, because Ihonestly just don't know which
version of my students I'm goingto get that day: the deeply
focused kid, the easilydistracted one?
Or maybe the very overwhelmedlearner who has way too much
going on and needs to take aslower, more gentle learning
(13:32):
pace?
Another thing to remember isthat it doesn't really pay off
(and it rarely results in apositive outcome) if we rush or
push our students constantly inthe lesson.
I know that I personally do notreally respond well to being
rushed or pushed when I'm tryingto grasp a new concept,
(13:52):
especially if it's something newor a little frustrating.
Hurrying me does not help, andthe same thing goes for our
students.
There are a few partingquestions I wanted to leave you
with to just ask yourself aboutthe pacing of your students
lessons.
Feel free to write these down,type them out or maybe just
(14:12):
ponder them throughout the weekas you're planning your lessons
and as you're thinking aboutyour students.
The first question is- howwould you rate your average
lesson pacing with your students?
Is it quick, rushed, kind ofhurried and efficient, racing
through to get things done?
Is it more relaxed and thorough, taking time with what your
(14:32):
students need to take time on,or maybe it's a bit scattered, a
mixture of rushed and very slowand not a whole lot of
structure?
The second question- Are yourlessons teacher-led, meaning you
, the teacher, is doing all thetalking and directing and
pushing things along, or doesyour lesson have a more natural
(14:54):
flow where you follow thestudents' lead, or maybe a
combination of both?
And you know what, if youhaven't thought about this,
that's okay, too!Number three- As you think
through your lesson pacing,particularly with any students
who may be struggling on aconcept, are there creative ways
you can adjust the pacing torelieve the stress or anxiety
(15:17):
about that concept and thenallow more time so it feels
relaxed and natural?
Maybe you can even remove anaspect of the lesson and spend
less time on something to reallyspend time on what matters that
week.
Number four- Are there aspectsof the lesson that could benefit
from better pacing, maybespending more or less time based
(15:40):
on how your student isresponding?
Jot down a few thoughts aboutspecific students or aspects of
your lesson where you can justtweak your pacing and create a
more student-centered approach.
Use your student as the guidefor when to keep going and when
to take more time.
(16:01):
If you really want to take adeep- dive into your teaching
and discover ways to improveyour lesson pacing, start to
really closely observe how muchtalking you're doing during the
lesson and when and if you seesigns the student's ready to
move on before you are.
You could even make a list ofyour students and jot down the
(16:22):
areas of the lesson you want toadjust the pacing on, whether
that be more time onimprovisation and adding
musicality to the lesson thisweek and less time on scales, or
whatever your focus is.
One last thought- What is yourideal pacing for a piano lesson?
Your ideal lesson pacing andyour students' needs may be
(16:44):
vastly different and while it'salways good to be prepared for
our lessons (and I shared that Ilove to be prepared), we do
need to ensure that thestructure of the lesson is
factoring in the humanity of ourstudents and their individual
needs.
Now, this podcast episode shouldcome with a little warning.
Thinking about lesson pacing isa bit like buying a green car:
(17:09):
Until you buy a green car,you've really never noticed
other green cars, but after youdrive it off the car lot,
suddenly you see green carseverywhere.
Lesson pacing is one of thosesneaky, silent and often
underrated things that usuallygets ignored and we rarely hear
it discussed in pedagogy circles.
But it is a vital piece of thepuzzle when it comes to teaching
(17:31):
and meeting our neurodivergentstudents where they are.
It's an integral thing to adapton this journey and I hope
you've gained a few littleinsights into the really cool
part of lessons that is lessonpacing.
It's these little things likepacing that can make a big
(17:53):
difference in our student'ssuccess, and that makes the
adapting so very worthwhile.
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